A Kingdom s Secret
by CentaurWatch
Summary: King Uther and Arthur have a big secret kept within the walls of the castle for the last 20 years that could mean the very fall of the Pendragon House if it were to be known. Without Uther knowing, Arthur confides in Merlin, hoping that he will be able to help, where everything else is failing to do so. Merlin/OC
1. Within the Castle Walls

**A/N: Just a little something that crossed my mind while trying to avoid studying, and in the hopes of making a Merlin/OC that isn´t the re-writing of the episodes with the adittion of an OC, as most of the ones I have come across are, if you know os some that aren´t like that, feel to point them out to me in a PM :) forgive me if there are any typos or spelling mistakes, as I mentioned before, I actually should be studying at the moment :O **

**hope you enjoy this first chapter wich is more an introductioin really. **

-C.W

There had been many things that had helped during his first weeks at Camelot, to change his mind about Arthur.

He certainly was a big headed prat most of the time, but the Young prince had his moments that proved Merlin, he had the potential of being a good and just King, with a bit of help…well with all the help he could get.

It wasn´t long for Merlin to become not only a loyal servant for Arthur, but a loyal friend , once he discovered his biggest secret, one Arthur wouldn´t have revealed if he hadn´t the same trust on him that he had showed the prince.

The secret was so big, Merlin didnt know how was it posible for it to be still a secret.

He looked in disbelief at the young girl by Arthur´s side. His mouth hanging wide open looking from Arthur to the girl, and from the girl to Arthur.

She looked very small at the side of Arthur, for she had a petite frame and looked to be under-fed, though it couldnt be at the lack of economical resources for her clothes were fit for a princess just as her chambers .

"I...don´t understand," Merlin mumbled below his breath finally finding the coherence to speak out load but yet not finding the ability to tear his eyes from his master and the unknown girl.

"Weren´t you bothering me all these weeks to know, to where I would sneak out at night?" Arthur inquired , trying to be as relaxed in the situation as he could, though it was easy to tell there was a hint of nervousness in his voice.

The girl sat silently at the side of Arthur looking at the floor, she seemed to be ashamed to be seen next to him, and more so, to be below Merlin´s questioning eyes.

"Yes but..." Merlin turned to look at Arthur "I just...you..."

Arthur let out a sigh, at seeing Merlin lost at words and certainly at a loss of an explanation of everything that was going on.

" I sneak out of my room every night to come here, I have done so since I was a young boy, for it´s...it´s the only way I can visit my sister." Arthur said, placing his arm around the girl that was starting to turn a bit pale and that still refused to even look at him.

"Merlin, meet my sister Anabelle, Ana, this is my lazy servant, the one I told you about,"the Prince said with a small smirk.

Merlin looked in shock, just as Arthur had finished his statement, serval of the tea cups that were in the room had taken to float around, Ana let out a scared gasp at the sight of them, just as the cups fell hard to the floor shaterring to million pieces.

Anabelle, looked terrified, as as if she had just been sentenced to hang the next morning.

"I´m sorry, I´m just so nervous and..." the girl said in such a low voice, Merlin was surprised he had even her her.

"It´s allright Ana, Merlin is of trust, if he wasnt I wouldnt have brought him here" Arthur said quietly and as calmly as he could.

Merlin smiled in the young girl direction, now it was so plain to see that indeed Arthur and the girl were related, they both had the same nose, the same eyes, the same mouth, in fact they had the same facial feutures with the difference that Ana´s were much more delicate, more feminine, and that her hair was a rich caramel brown that curled at the tips in difference of Arthur´s light blonde.

"It´s a pleasure to meet you, my Lady," Merlin said naturally giving her a small bow, after having gone past the initial schock and starting to get the situations picture.

Ana was looking at him in disbelief, half-expecting him to turn on his back and get away as fast as his feet could carry him, after having just watch her do magic, but instead he was smiling kindly at her, like only her brother had ever done before, she couldnt help but smile shyly at him, giving a small nod in recognition of his words.

"Just dont stay there, Merlin! help me with this mess!" Arthur called as he surpringly got to his knees to start picking up the shattered cups.

The walk back to Arthur´s room was a long one, even if the secret room in wiich Ana was secluded wasn´t that far.

"Why is she kept there?" Merlin asked once they were safe in Arthur´s chambers.

"I thought the cups shattering was enough explanation ,Merlin," the Prince said, in a way that suggested that he didnt wanted to talk about it. "She´s...she´s dangerous..." Authur added, faintly, wich made it clear it wasnt a statement he actually belived in.

"Then..." Merlin said testing if he could continue inquiring and seeing Arthur seemed up to it, he continued "Then why did you take me with you?"

" I was hoping you would visit her, when you had the time...you saw her, she is getting quite thin, none of the potions Gaius has given her seemes to restore back her health, I fear her sickness derives of loneliness, and you are the worst servant I ever had, you are always late, never seem to do your chores as you should so...it wouldn´t make a big difference if you dissapeared for an hour or two..."

Merlind didn´´t even tried to hide the smile that plastered in his face, feeling a bit touched of being trusted in such a big secret.

**A/N: Like it ? hate it? Should I continue or leave it there? **


	2. Don t get any closer

**A/N: Special thanks to: Loves the Supernatural, Ohmygoshmerlinstolemygameboy , Powergirl84, sid3, and the two guest that reviewed! it was nice hearing your thoughts on the story :) also thanks to everyone that favorited and alerted! **

**One of the guest asked why made a sister for Arthur if he already has Morgana as his sister well, I just thought it would be interesting if Uther had a daughter he actually knew was a witch, and one that had no control over her magic at all. **

**Sorry by the long wait, I was in final exams and then my laptop had a mayor failure :/ I already took it to the technician and said they will give it back in a couple of days, so this chapter was written while sneaking to my father´s computer at wee hours in the morning, that is why is so short, I just wanted to post something for the time being, promise to update as soon as I can and that the next chapter will be longer. **

** Happy Holidays! **

**-C.W**

Merlin closed the door behind him, doing it slowly to avoid the rusty hinges making a sound that might alert Gaius of his late arrival. He had taken his time to walk from Arthur´s chambers to the royal physician´s quarters, hoping the night´s air might bring some clearness to his thoughts.

His mind was trying to make sense of the whole situation, but the more he thought about it, the less likely it all seemed to be. He would think it all had been some strange dream caused by the vapours of some experimental potion Gaius was making, or perhaps Athur had banged his head to hard with the goblet he had thrown at his head in the morning.

Even those insane explanations seemed more bealivable at the moment than having King Uther, keep a girl, who happened to be his daughter (and apparently a witch), hidden in the castle without anyone knowing, not even of her existence...

"Where were you? Merlin," Gaius softly asked, amused of how the young boy was tip-toeing to his room without noticing him. At the sound of his voice Merlin stopped dead in his tracks and turned rather quickly to look at him, almost falling in doing so.

"I...was...I was at Arthur´s chambers," Merlin muttered promptly, telling Gaius there was more to be said.

"Arthur has never kept you up this late before,"Gaius remarked for it was already a quarter past midnight.

"Well you know Arthur, he was being his kingly self prat..."Merlin said nervously for he had never been able to be a good liar in front of Gaius.

"Well then, you should better go to bed, you still need to wake up early tomorrow,"Gaius said dismissing him, knowing Merlin wouldnt say more tonight.

Merlin nodded and hurried to his bedroom door.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Rise and shine!" Merlin exclaimed happily as he opened the windows of the Prince´s chambers. He only heard a low growl coming from his master´s bed .

"Sire, you need to wake up," Merlin insisted, shaking Arthur slightly.

"Go away," Arthur mumbled covering his face with a pillow, while throwing one of the cushions on his bed blindly at his manservant who was interrumpting his slumber in such an annoying manner.

"Your father has requested to have breakfast with you this morning," Merlin said dodging to avoid the flying cushion as he shook the Prince with more force.

Arthur just gave another growl in response, this time it was deeper as if warning his manservant to not bother him again.

But the sound only made a mischivous childish grin apear in the young warlock´s feutures as he picked up the the cushion that was in the floor and threw it, perhaps too eargly to his master´s head...

The response was instant in a matter of seconds Arthur was on his feet, chasing Merlin out of his room.

Merlin laughed slightly as he made his way to the door, but all cheerfulness left him at realizing that Arthur wasn´t stoping at the door as he usually did, he was actually chasing him down the corridor, still in his nightware, blaring a pillow in his hand as if it was his deathly sword.

"Come back here Merlin!" Arthur roared, only reafirming the already curious eyes of the guards on them and making some of the servants stop in their duties to try and see what was the commotion was all about.

Merlin made a turn quickly, faster than his clumsy feet coul register making him trip and fall hard on the floor.

Arthur threw the pillow with all the force he could muster at Merlin who was still in the ground, "Don´t ever agian wake me up like that," and with that, Arthur went back to his chambers.

Merlin picked himself up, as the small crowd that they had managed to attract dispersed, he dusted his clothes the best he could and picked up the pillow unsure of what to do with it now, surely Arthur expected to be left alone, at lest for the early morning, leaving him some time to himself, perhaps he should go back down to Gaius chambers and help him with any errand or odd job his guardian had in store for him, but the idea of finding a secluded place in the castle where he could lay down and rest, perhaps take a quick nap was alarmingly tempting, as he hadnt been able to get that much sleep the previous night.

He was on his way to find such secluded place when he walked past a deserted corridor, the same one through wich Arthur had lead him the previous night, he hadnt really played any attention to it before, surely that´s the reason the King had designed it a good place to hide an unwanted daughter.

He made sure he indeed was alone when he slipped through the corridor, no guards, no servants where around for there wasnt really much to see, the corridor led to an old storage room that the maidservants dared not to go, for there were rats and no matter how many the guards catched or how many traps the manservants placed, there was always a younger rat to take the place of the one that had been killed.

The corridor was decorated with tapestries, wich were now old and clearly the mayority infested by moths, he stopped in the fourth tapestry, the one that showed King Uther´s grandfather in his horse, ready for battle.

He reached behind it and tried to remember which brick was the one that Arthur had pushed to reveal the secret entrance, he was sure it was something like three right and too left up , or maybe it was three left and two right up or...he let out a sigh, he just couldnt remember so he started to push every brick that he could reach that was behind the the fourth tapestry, soon the wall gave a turn, reavealing a set of stairs once he stepped through it, the wall returned to it´s usual appereance.

He went up the spiral staircase that lead to one single chamber, he knocked slightly at the door, there was no answer, so he tried once more, this time louder, but still no one answered.

He paused a moment, and decided to go inside even if he hadn´t been granted permission.

"Hello? Anabelle?"Merlin called as he opened the door to let himself in.

The room was smaller than Arthur´s but certainly had a bed that looked as comfortable as the crown prince´s. He heard a small shift by the window as if someone had tripped by the night stand, so he advanced in that direction.

"Anabelle?" he called slightly once again and without warning the candel that was resting on the nightstand flew towards him and hit him right in the face.

"Oww!" Merlin excalimed trying to masagge the part of his face that had been inflicted.

"Sorry,"muttured someone that was still hidden behind the curtain.

Filled with curiosity, Merlin soon forgot his aching face and was walking towards the window once again. "It´s all right," the manservant assured her, it was a surreal thought, having a Pendragon say sorry to him.

"Stop!" she cried when he had gotten so near that he could easily part the curtains to revel the girl. "Please don´t...don´t get any closer..."

"I´m not going to hurt you, Anabelle,"Merlin said calmly.

There was a pause "I know,"she said feebly "but I might hurt you, so please go."

Merlin decided not to listen, and uncovered the girl without second thought, she let out a small gasp of surprise, and Merlin watched as her already pale skin, turned paler, then he felt something hard and heavy colliding with his head, and then all went black.

**A/N: Liked? Hate? Suggestions? Something you would like to see happen? **


	3. Meetings

Anabelle looked down in disbelief at the unconscious manservant in her floor. She hadn´t meant to hurt him at all, but she had little control of her magic specially when she was nervous. He seemed to be sleeping, he looked so peaceful and the sight of him slumbering quietly in her floor was in some way helping her calm down her nerves.

Even if he looked peaceful in his unconscious state, she knew that her floor wasn´t that much comfortable, so she got near him, cautiously at first as she crouched next to him, making sure her nerves were in control to prevent any further accidents .

She allowed herself to take a better look at him, the only people she had seen this close where Gaius and Arthur, her father would occasionally visit but he didn´t got past the threshold of the door, clearly disgusted by who she was, she knew that the only reason her father hadn´t send her away was because that meant sentencing her to death according to his laws, something he dared not to do in honor of his late wife´s memory as she resembled her in her physique with the exception of her dark hair that she had clearly inherited from Uther.

He had really big ears, she noted, and his hair was raven black, she tried to remember what colour his eyes were, but she hadn´t been able to look at him in the eyes to notice. She tried to move him but he was too heavy for her to lift, leaving her with only one option: use magic.

She would practice lifting up objects when she was alone, she was fairly well at it... as long as she was alone and calm, though sometimes she would let the objects fall, or they would take a mind of their own and go the opposite way she wanted them to go.

She let out a sigh as she concentrated and managed to make Merlin float slightly a few inches from the floor. He was heavier than any of the other objects she had practiced but started to move him towards her bed slowly, perhaps she let him fall once or twice...and accidently made his body hit one of the bed posts, but she felt really pleased with her work once Merlin was resting in the comforts of her bed.

Merlin woke up a couple of hours later with a throbbing headache, he was over something soft and warm, he opened his eyes and blinked to adjust his sight.

"Are you all right?" he heard a soft voice ask, he sat up on the bed and over, Anabelle was looking at him, sitting in the bed next to him .

He silently sat up as he scratched his neck over the sore muscles there and tried to think what to say "I´m all right," he said with a smile " I´m sorry if I scared you," he said sheepishly.

Anabelle bit her lip "and I´m sorry about knocking you out with a chandelier..." she said her cheeks burning red in embarrassment.

Merlin let out an amused chuckle "well I´ve been knocked out by many things over my life , but never a chandelier, at least it´s better than getting myself knocked out by tripping with my own feet ," he said in hopes of easing her embarrassment.

Anabelle let out a little laugh, the first in many months, she was a bit surprised by the sound of it but smiled looking down to her toes.

Her feet were dangling from the bed as she wasn´t tall enough for her feet to reach the floor. "Aren´t you afraid of me? " she asked quietly, half whishing she had kept her mouth shut, afraid of the answer, but the words had just come out as she thought of them.

Merlin could perfectly just be here because her brother commanded him to, or perhaps out of curiosity... a tale to tell the other servants about the freak that lived between the walls...

Merlin looked down on the girl, debating about reveling his secret or not, true she was a witch herself, which made him feel not that alone anymore in the castle as there was someone that seemed to be like him, someone that possed magic without having studied the Old Religion, well her magic seemed to be more on the rough side than his, but still...

"I´m not afraid,". his tone was serious, not leaving her room to doubt his words., it made her look up to his eyes for the first time.

They were blue.

And from that day on, she would always look him in the eye when addressing him.

.

**A/N: Thanks to everyone that reviwed last chapter, sorry for the late update my old laptop died, making me loose all my files and outlines, plus I had a little writers block. Coments and critiques are always welcome **

**Thanks for Reading!**

**~C.W**


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